By JOHN HICKEY, P-I REPORTER

Published 10:00 pm, Tuesday, June 5, 2007

Perhaps the Mariners' motto should be TGFB -- Thank Goodness For Bullpens.

For the second time in as many nights, Mariners hitters beat up the Baltimore bullpen and Seattle relievers defused the Orioles.

The result was a 5-4 Mariners win, Seattle's fourth consecutive victory. Ichiro Suzuki provided the clincher, a two-out, tie-breaking double in the seventh inning.

The Mariners are five games over .500, the highest level since 2003.

The team's recent success raises the question: Is this the type of club that Ichiro -- the team's only potential free agent -- would like to play for beyond this season? The club is winning, playing some gutsy baseball and everybody, Ichiro included, seems to be having fun.

So, what's the word, Ichiro?

"You are asking a kind of a tremendous question," he said. "To be honest, I don't want to think about it. I just want to contribute."

Well, he is doing that. He had game-winning hits Monday and Tuesday against the Baltimore bullpen. He is hitting .335, and the offense is clicking.

"There is some kind of atmosphere here," Ichiro said. "I'm not exactly able to put my finger on it."

One-third of the way into the season, perhaps it's too early to know just what the Mariners have here. But one thing is certain. The bullpen is able to keep the Mariners in games. Tuesday, Cha Seung Baek allowed two runs in the first and four runs in 5 2/3 innings, but Eric O'Flaherty, Jason Davis, Brandon Morrow and J.J. Putz allowed one hit and no runs the rest of the way.

"Our bullpen has to be one of the best," Baek said. "They always give us a chance."

Davis got the win after getting the final out of the seventh. Morrow threw a 1-2-3 eighth and Putz, who has saved the first two games of the series, got three quick outs after giving up a leadoff single.

Seattle's bullpen is now 8-3 with a 3.41 ERA and 15 saves, all of which belong to Putz.

"J.J.'s has been just lights out," Morrow said. "But really, everybody's been doing the job."

It was Betancourt's throwing error in the sixth that gave the Orioles their last run off Baek.

"I was feeling good after that hit," Betancourt said. "The team won, and we've been coming back a lot in games."

Betancourt, who stretched his hitting streak to a career-best 17 games early in the evening, only tied the game. It would be up to Ichiro to finish the job.

The center fielder, facing Chad Bradford, flared a looping line drive that fell a few feet fair down the left field line. Ben Broussard, scored easily from third base, and all that was left was for the bullpen to shut down the Orioles.

That they did.

"Our bullpen has given us a real boost in the first half," manager Mike Hargrove said. "Guys have been given specific jobs, and they've all been able to do them."

As long as that continues to be the case, and as long as the Seattle offense continues to rage, the Mariners have a chance to be the kind of team that Ichiro is going to want to play for down the road.